Poetry is what gets lost in translation-Robert Frost

July 19, 2014

La Terra Trema

The second Luchino Visconti film, La Terra Trema (1948), is also the second from his oeuvre that I have seen. It is considered one of the great masterpieces of Italian neo-realism in that it is shot entirely on location in Sicily with uncredited amateur actors. There are several long takes of three to four minutes in length throughout the 160 minute film. He manages to combine realism with artistry with beautifully framed sequences and use of the desolate seaside and rocks that surround the harbor. It is a simple story of poverty and hope that quickly becomes hopelessness. While the cinematography is richly compelling, La Terra Trema suffers from Visconti's addition of a documentary-style narrator, who oversells the tragedy with lines like: "It wasn't enough that their fellow man was their enemy... nature was there, too." That being said, it felt overlong and could have been edited down to less than two hours. But all in all, a worthy example of Italian neo-realism.